MCCC inviting a conversation about resuming intercollegiate sports

Saturday

Nov 18, 2017 at 5:00 PM

College officials said it is “very early” in the discussion process and no decisions have been made.

Danielle Portteus Monroe News staff reporter DPortteusMNews

Monroe County Community College once again plans to discuss the possibility of offering intercollegiate athletics. College officials said it is “very early” in the discussion process and no decisions have been made.

The college will host the first of a series of community conversations about the concept. The first forum will take place from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Dec. 4 in Room 173c in the administration building located on the college’s main campus, 1555 S. Raisinville Rd.

Dr. Kojo A. Quartey, the college’s president, said he has heard from folks about offering sports. The discussion to bring back intercollegiate sports to MCCC has come up several times in the last decade, but Quartey has not been a part of that conversation. Now he wants to be.

“I’ve been president for four years and I’ve heard conversations about it, but I haven’t been a part of the conversation,” he said Friday. “I want us to have a discussion about the possibility.”

MCCC had sports teams from the mid-1960s until 1980. The program was dropped to save money.

The first athletic contest took place Sept. 30, 1960, with a cross country meet, according to Monroe News archives. The college launched its basketball program a few months later and men’s golf in the spring of 1967.

At that time, the college’s mascot was the Huskies. Eventually the college added cheerleading, baseball and women’s softball and volleyball.

The conversation is in the early stages, Quartey said, and the college does not have the funding to offer the program, so it would require support from the public and private sector.

“I ask myself two questions: ‘Will it benefit the students and will it benefit the community?’” he said. “We have to talk about that.”

The college plans to hosts several conversations in the coming months to gauge the public’s interest.

“I want to see how strongly people feel and if they will support it,” Quartey said.